As usual, much of what we know about mercury is alarmist and wrong:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partner...et_Mercury.pdf

"Therefore, if all 272 million CFLs3 sold in 2009 were sent
to a landfill (versus recycled, as a worst case) – they
would add 0.12 metric tons, or 0.12 percent, to U.S. mercury
emissions caused by humans."

That's interesting. Of course, it tells us *nothing* about how alarmist
and wrong what we "know" about mercury is; all it tells us is that the
amount of mercury in CFLs is much smaller than the total amount of
mercury let loose by human beans. Says nothing about mercury's toxicity.

I guess I have an average mercury "body burden" since I have amalgam
fillings. But I still can't for the life of me figure out just how it's
OK to walk around with mercury in my TEETH just because it's been
mixed with other metals. It's not even an *alloy*, for chrissakes. How
does
that work?

I don't know exactly what is in an amalgam. But it's well know that you have
to grind your teeth vigorously to release any mercury. If you're worried,
have your dentist replace the fillings with glass/plastic "concrete".

Metallic mercury is less toxic than organic mercury compounds. This article
(correctly) explains that the mercury in CFLs is not much of problem -- then
tells people to air out the room if they break a bulb!

This is a classic example of people worrying about things that are of
relatively little importance, while ignoring significant problems.